During the lesson today, I had students debate the phrase "learning from experience". I challenged then to respond to it.

Several students commented that parents, and other adults, should let young people make their own mistakes so that they can learn from them. They suggested that, in order to understand something, sometimes you have to go through it.

Playing the devil's advocate, I asked them to consider the value of learning from someone else's experience. Do we not learn not to swim in shark invested waters after someone has done so and is bitten? Do we have to be going through it to know that that action could be dangerous?

As the students and I debated the issue, I marvelled at the engagement. I wondered how many opportunities – in school or at home – they have to talk and be listened to.

As my understanding of students has grown, I am learning more and more that young people do have a lot to say. Providing them opportunities to talk shows them that their thoughts are important.

So, as I consider how I will conduct my next lesson I ask myself: "Does the experience make the man or does the man make the experience?"